Well we will see won't we. many people in the world thought that the USA was misguided to retire the Shuttles early and I was one of them, but it was due to lack of funds from Congress to NASA. So Trump reckons he can privatise low earth orbit stuff, and get funds for deep space exploration?

As has been so often the case ever since the end of the Apollo program, and the Shuttle, it just seems like a lot of rhetoric with no clear goals. NASA and the private companies need to come together for a unified endeavor. The mind is a weird and mysterious place

The SpaceX Falcon9 rocket started from Pad 39A in the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, which had launched Apollo and Shuttle missions. It was the first time that a commercial rocket had started from a NASA launch Pad. The first stage of the rocket has landed also at Cape Canaveral on NASA ground. The Dragon capsule is slated to return to Earth in March with 2 tons (don't know if metric or Imperial) of old equipment and experiments, and junk.
Tullio

The SpaceX Falcon9 rocket started from Pad 39A in the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, which had launched Apollo and Shuttle missions. It was the first time that a commercial rocket had started from a NASA launch Pad. The first stage of the rocket has landed also at Cape Canaveral on NASA ground. The Dragon capsule is slated to return to Earth in March with 2 tons (don't know if metric or Imperial) of old equipment and experiments, and junk.
Tullio

That's good news. Let's get these people together more often. The moon, Mars, and beyond await... The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Space X seem quite good at running re-supply missions, but I just wish that Congress would fund NASA to build new shuttles that would be primarily used to ferry people to and from the ISS. The original shuttles were dual purpose in that they had a crew compartment up front and a cargo bay aft. Working in tandem with each other would be beneficial as Gordon said.

The shuttles have killed two crews. I think NASA could not afford the loss of a third crew. It is true that space is a dangerous enterprise, but shuttles had features (wings) unneeded in a spacecraft (a lifting body could have worked), wanted by the US Air Force. The X37-B is a mini shuttle with no crew.
Tullio

I thought it was said NASA didn't want to fly the Shuttle anymore because it had no abort system and it was getting too expensive for the budget given to them. The "government" replacement for it is the Orion capsule and SLS rocket, and the private alternatives will be SpaceX Dragon/Falcon 9, Boeing CST100/multiple launch systems, and Sierra Nevada Dream-something. I wonder if Orion and SLS will be cancelled like the other replacement programs, but the development has progressed fairly far, so maybe they won't be cancelled.

But I don't know if the general idea was to keep the Shuttle until the replacements were ready.

As I understood it the computer systems on board the shuttles were very old hat, and it was getting more difficult to source spares as time went by. Also they were approaching the end of their design life. It has been suggested that the shuttle fleet could have been kept going for another 4-5 years, but it was decided to retire them once a deal had been reached for lifts to and from the ISS.

NASA started getting more and more interested in visiting comets and asteroids, and eyeing up Mars, and left the possibility of Moonbase 1 to the Chinese, and hitching rides to the ISS from the Russians. Whether the new American administration will change that political outlook remains to be seen.

In a few minutes, the Dragon spacecraft launched by SpaceX will dock to the ISS carrying an amount of supplies and scientific instrumentation like SAGE III by NASA. In a few hours the Progress cargo craft will launch from Baikonur to bring other supplies to the ISS. This joint American-Russian effort is a joy to me, an Italian. My father was sent by Mussolini to invade Russia and came back full of admiration for the Russian people and its humanity. Forward, forward the ships! (Cristoforo Colombo, on his way to America).
Tullio
Progress has already launched and is on its way.

“Dragon did exactly what it was supposed to do and broke out of its approach, aborting its approach to the International Space Station and now is on a trajectory that will bring it in front of, and then above, the International Space Station, eventually behind the station in what is called a racetrack maneuver.”

Didn't Kirk do that in a Startrek episode, called the something manoeuvre? Also that was a strategic manoeuvre by Hawker Siddeley Harriers, where upon being chased by an enemy they would swivel the vector thrust nozzles downwards, thereby slowing them down rapidly and rising them up. The enemy would fly past underneath, whereupon the Harrier would drop down behind and fire.

Italian papers say that an agreement was reached between the Italian Space Agency, headed by physicist Roberto Battiston, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences to do some research together on the Tiangong-3 Space Station. Maybe an Italian astronaut will fly on it, who knows.
Tullio

The Danes are very brave:)
I saw this docu the other day.
AMATEURS IN SPACE trailerhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZlltBkq4vs
AMATEURS IN SPACE is the story of two men, Kristian von Bengtson and Peter Madsen, and their shared boyhood dream of traveling into space - in their own rocket. If successful, they do not just make Denmark to a space power nation like the United States, Russia and China, they will also write themselves into history as the first amateur to implement a human spaceflight. Supported by donors and volunteers working Kristian and Peter are to realize the dream of a few funds and great commitment. They will prove that space is not only reserved for large nations, but also can be explored by "ordinary people".
It is a film about courage and human tireless striving forward and upward. It is the story of the biggest dream in human time, and how, in his own way, causes it to come true. But the two lovers must realize that even small obstacles can slow grand visions. Soon beats cooperation between the two friends sparks and they are each other's worst opponents in the race for space.
Director: Max Kestnerhttps://copenhagensuborbitals.com/